Manufacture of gas



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G.H.HARVBY. yMANUPAG'IIUM: 0F GAS.

No. 535,988. Patented Mar. 19, 1895..

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3 Sheets- Sheet G. H. HARVEY. MANUPACTURE 0F GAS.

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NITED STA-TES- PATENT GFF-ICE.

GEORGE-H. HARVEY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLV'ANIA.`

MANUFACTURE oF cAs.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 535,988,dated March 19, 1895.

Application ined June 16,1894. serial 110.514.743. oro man.)A

To all whom t may concern..-

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. HARVEY, a

resident ot Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful ImprovementsV in the Manufacture of Gras;V and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

.exact description of the invention, such as vapors and air in a fixing retort by the use of apparatus which secures certainty-of operation and produces a gas-of uniform quality suitable either for heating or lighting, both the heavier and the lighter portions of the oil Y being utilized in a regular and equal manner;

and the invention consists in the improvements in the art and apparatus hereinafter described and particularly pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a diagrammatic View 'partly in section of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the carburetor and Fig. 3 is a similar view of a modijed form of carburetor. Fig. 4is a diagrammatic View partlyi'n section of modified apparatus. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a modified detail.

Numeral 1 indicates a carburetor and 2 a pump for forcing air therethrough. 3iis an oil pump to supply oil to the same. The carburetor .may however be fed from an elevated oil holder by gravity. The supply of oil in the latter case is automatically regulated by an inlet cock or valve controlled by a ioat, or in case an oil pump is used the action of that may be regulated in any usual way to secure a constant and regular supply of oil, which "effect has important relations to the uniformity of quality of the gas issuing, from the retort.

A compression and' condensing tank adapted to hold a considerable volume of carbureted air is denoted by .4 and a retort by 5. The latter may be of any suiable form or character. These several devices are connected and communicate with each otherby means,

of pipes as follows: 6 denotes an air pipe through which a suitably regulated pump forces air into the carburetor in a constant lthe nozzle 15 into the retort.

current. -6 denotes the steam pipe for the pump and 6 a valve chamber therein containing 'a valve adapted to be moved by a weighted lever attached to the valve stem and subject to the pressure in the compression chamber 4. A pipe by which said chamber communicates with the space above a piston in the regulator 12 is denoted by 13 and the piston by 6". The weight tends to open the valve and it may be set to open at any desired limit of pressure in the system of pipes. The valve will be closed by any excess of pressure.

The compression tank receives carbureted air through pipe '7, and 7 denotes a pipe for conveying such air to retorts.

10 denotes an oil supply pipe and 8 a pipe through which the pump feeds oil to the carburetor.

8', see Fig. 2, denotes a steam coil arranged 8 is the discharge end of the coil.

Oil is conveyed directly to lthe retort from the carburetor through a pipe 9, and 12 is a valve regulator controlled from the chamber 4 which in operation contains carbureted air under pressure. Its construction is such that when from any cause the pressure in the system falls below a predetermined limit the valve is'closed and the flow of oil is positively arrested. 11 is a pipe for'conveying the oil that may be condensed in said chamber 4 back to the carburetor.

14 is a branch of the carbureted-air pipe 7 and I5 denotes a mixing chamber for mingling carbureted air and heavy oil which latter is sprayed by the carbureted air jet from The heavy oil is fed to the mixer through a branch 16 of pipe 9.

17 denotes a burner communicating both.

-for the retort.

19 denotes an uptake and 19 a pipe by which the uptake communicates with a gas main 20, and 2l is a branch leading to a steam boiler furnace.

Referring to the'pressure regulators, 25 denotes the valve rod; 26, the valve moving lever loosely connected to the said rod; 22, the

.to receive exhaust steam from the pump and I IOO fulcrum of the lever, and 23 the rod of the piston which receives air pressure in the cylinder of the regulator through pipe 13. As before stated one of these regulators controls the steam supply to the air pump which forces air into the carburetor and in case the pressure in the apparatus rises above the desired limit of fifteen pounds, for example, it closes or partially closes the steam inlet until the ro pressure falls to that predetermined, or to fifteen pounds in the case assumed. The regulator for the oil pipe that leads to the retort, comprises a valve in the oil pipe adapted to be closed when the pressure of earbureted air in the chamber 4 falls below the desired limit as may happen in case of leakage 0f the carbureted air or the stopping of the nil* pump. By this means the flooding of the retort with oil is prevented. The compression zo chamber therefore, holding a reserve of cai'- buleted air under pressure aids in. the oper- 1 u duced of a uniform quality and with a suitation of both regulators and is also adapted to maintain an approximately constant current notwithstanding the liability of slight, variations of pressure in the pipes. In this chamber also some of the oil vapor may he. condensed and provision is made that it may flow back to the carburetor.

The oil is kept at a constant level in the 3o carburetor by a float-controlled valve or other means to insure uniformity in the quality ol in the constituents of the carbureted air.

The more volatile portions of the oil are carried out of the oil tank bythe carburoted air and the residual oil is forced by the air pressure produced by the air pump in the space above the oil, to the mixer, the flow of oil being aided by gravity in scmecases. rPhe air and oil issuing with considerable force 4o from the nozzle. of. the. mixer are thoroughly and minutely mixed in a fine spray which fills the retort. The lighter and the heavier portions of the oil are. thus Iirst` separated in the carburetor and then mingled with each other and with air in the retort in a finely divided and evenly blended state highly favorable to the cooking or tixing process.

14 and 15 denote cocks or valves situated in the air and oil pipes respectively. They, 5o together with similar cocks in the burner pipes, provide for suitably starting the appa: ratus which is eeotcd by first forcing air through the oil tank and producing the de sired pressure in the carburetor, air pipes and compression chamber. The cock in the all' pipe ot' the burner is then opened for the passage of carbureted air and afterward the cock in the oil pipe of the burner is gradually opened whereupon the pressuroin thosystem 6o forces the air and oil out of the burner nozzle 17, the oil beingfinely divided and intimately mixed with the carbureted air.` This being ignited heats the retort and thereupon air and oil are in like manner introduced into the retort by first opening the air cock 14. and then gradually opening the oil cock 15'.

The gas thus produced from the carbureted air and oil spray is conducted to a main 20 or to a holder'. The main and its principal connections may'in some cases, as when a comparatively 10W heat is used in the retort chamber, be inclined upward from the retort or retorts whereby condensed oil vapor can be carried back to the retort or if desired to the carburetor a suitable conduit being supplied; but this is not essential to the main improvement.

It will be understood that the continuous supply of fresh oil to the carburetor and the Withdrawal of residual oil therefrom keeps its contents of uniform character and that the regulator for the steam pipe prevents an excessive rise in pressure while the regulator for the` oil pipe guards, *ainsi overflow by gravity inv case the air pressure accidentally7 falls too low.

By the above described method gas is proable blending of the various oil constituents and is suitably modified by the admixture of air to burn etijeiently and Without smoke. It

1 is adapted to the use of crude oil but is not limited to such oil.

1n Figs. 4 and 5 are diagrammatically illustrated modifications ot' the apparatus above described. The carburetor 1 is furnished with a gas inlet pipo 22 whereby gas may be mingled with the oarbuleted air or in some Casos substituted for it a sufficient pressure being assumed to exist in the supply pipe or pipes.`

2d indicatesa supplemental beati ng apparatus for the oil and air or gas pipes.

5 denotes the cooking retort and 24. and 2d indicate. air and oil nozzles respectively. These are preferably arranged in any usual manner for atomiaing the oil.

IOO

2.6 denotes a gas washer or cooler and 27 a holder.

The oil receptacle provided-with air or gas pipes adapted to maintain therein a pressure above the normal and thereby torce the heavy oil to the, retort` and the intimate mixture of the. oil and air or other suitable fluid under uniform and equal pressure in the retort are among the moet essential features of the im provemcut and the supplemental heating, washing, and holding devices may be omitted.

I am aware thatin aprior apparatus oil has been thrown into a retort through a perforated or rose nozzle or through a so called oil distributor or atomizer by steam or other pressure, or by steam and air pressure, and I do not claim an apparatus or improvement in theart Wherei n direct steam pressure, or steam and air pressure is used to induce a flow of oil, said oil being sprayed into a. retort:` mingled with steam and with air or with gas and air I am also aware that oil has been sprayed in a furnace by the combined action of air pressure and the, inductive effect of the air supplied to the furnace the oil and air being TIO ssaess mingled in the combustion chamberand I do not herein claim such matters.

It is characteristic of my invention that airl or gas is first carbureted by being brought in contact `With oil thereby becoming saturated with its more volatile portions and that this carbureted air under initial pressure is subsequently used to spray the heavier residual portions of oil and that the pressure in the carbureter directly forces the residual oil to the spraying device and also acts as an injector through the medium of the carbureted air jet to spray said oil and that the previously carbureted airthus mingled with the spray of heavy'oilis cooked in a retort or equivalent apparatus and conveyed to a main or holder. f

Having thus described my invention, what I claim isl. The art of making gas from oil which consists in carbureting air, conveyingr it under pressure to a mixing device, conveying oil to said mixer by means of pressure in the carburetor, spraying the oil by the pressure of the carbureted air intoa heated retort, the previously carbureted air being used to inject and atomize the residualoil from the carbu rotor, and conveying the cooked vapors to a main or the like, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the carbureting oil tank, a device for mixingcarbureted air and oil, a retort, means' for forcing air through stant level of oil in said'tank, means for forcing air therethrough, said means being adapted to force the carbureted air through pipes to the mixing device and thence to the retort and also to force residual oil from the carburetor tank to said mixing device and retort, means for heating the retort, and agas main -or the like, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of the carbureting oil tank, a device for mixing carbureted air and oil, a retort, means for forcing air through said tank, said means being adapted to force the carbureted air through pipes to the mixing device and thence to the retort and also to force residual oil from the carburetor tank to said mixing device and retort, a regulator operated by thefpressure in the carbureted air pipes and connections and adapted to control the air-forcing apparatus to limit such pressure, and devices adapted to lcut off the oil supply to the retort when the pressure in the carburetor tank and communicating pipes falls below that predetermined whereby oil is positively cutoff from the retort, means for heating the retort, and a gas main or the like, substantially as set forth.

, `5. The combination of the oil tank, means for' forcing air therethrough. and thence through pipes to a retort, said-means being adapted to `force residualoil from the tank to the same retort, an air and oil mixing device, said retort, anda compression and condensation chamber communicating Withthe pipes for carbureted air, substantially as set forth.

Y .In testimony whereof l have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE H. HARVEY.

Witnesses: y

JOSEPH R. CUTLER, WrLLIAM BEAL. 

